#akmediaonline: I Was Starstruck Upon Meeting My Idol Zinedine Zidane For The 1st Time, Mesut Ozil

One of the biggest in the world of football Mesut Ozil has revealed he was starstruck when meet Frenchman Legend Zinedine Zidane for the first time, Ozil who is among the best paid players at Arsenal was a Real Madrid player at the time when his path cross with the iconic Legend.

“I was really nervous, happy and thankful as well because Madrid was such a huge club, I had dreamed of playing there because my idol Zinedine Zidane played for them as well” Ozil told Arsenal Player

The German midfielder spent three plus seasons at the Santiago Bernabeu where he earned the moniker ‘Assist King’ before joining the Gunners for a fee of €50 million.

“My first day over there with Jose Mourinho and all my team mates, of course when you’re a new player in the dressing room you’re a bit quiet and nervous because big players were there at the big club. I was especially nervous when i met Zinedine Zidane that was the highlight for me”

“It was in the dressing room, Mourinho took him to the first team as his assistant coach. He was in the dressing room, so of course my hands were sweating. You want to try to speak to him , but he was actually really relaxed as a person. He was really calm and i really enjoyed my first meeting with him”.

“Of course I had a lot things in my head. I was thinking about the time when I was young with my friends, I would buy his shirt and play as him in the cage where I was brought up,” Ozil revealed.

“The feeling was very positive but still I was only a young player at 20 or 21, something like that. My team-mates know that I’m a really calm person in the dressing room who doesn’t speak too much, just do my work and relax, so I was just nervous to meet him.”

There’s been talk of a rift between new Arsenal boss Unai Emery and Ozil as the German was conspicuous from the side’s Matchday squad for their clash against West Ham United on August 25. Ozil did return to the starting XI for the Gunners’ win over Cardiff City on the weekend, but it remains to be seen if he will get plenty of minutes under Emery.

Ozil who called his international career quit abruptly after Germany’s disastrous 2018 FIFA World Cup campaign, but it was his three part statement that has diivided opinion in his homeland.

Ozil who cited racism and hypocritical criticism due to his Turkish root kicked up a storm as he bid adieu to Die Mannshaft after having played a crucial role in the side’s triumph at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil

Ozil is seen as the last of his kind, a technically gifted player but one perhaps lacking in the tremendous work-rate the modern game demands.